- Peru: Regime Reviews Disputed Election Ballots With Final Result Likely Stalled Until May
Source: US News & World Report
“Peru’s electoral authorities began reviewing thousands of contested ballots on Monday, stalling the count in the April 12 general election and delaying final results, as no clear presidential rival has emerged to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff. Roughly 6% of polling stations — representing more than one million votes — were challenged last week due to missing information or errors on tally sheets, according to Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). Peru’s top electoral body, the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said it has started reviewing disputed polling stations in public hearings before adding them to the final tally, a process that could take weeks.” (04/20/26)
- Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket grounded after delivering satellite to wrong orbit
Source: The Verge
“The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket after it shuttled its payload to the wrong orbit during its launch on Sunday, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. ‘The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage flight sequence following a successful launch,’ the FAA said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. … Though the rocket’s reusable booster returned to its landing pad without issue, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. … Blue Origin confirmed that its second stage shut off its engines and was in a ‘coast phase’ after reaching an ‘off-nominal’ orbit, but it didn’t provide any other details about what went wrong or when it will return to Earth.” (04/20/26)
- Patel files frivolous lawsuit vs. The Atlantic
Source: CNBC
“FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday morning filed a lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages from The Atlantic magazine for what he claims is a defamatory article that alleges he abuses alcohol. Patel over the weekend had vowed to sue The Atlantic for the article published on Friday, which was carried the headline ‘Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.’ ‘The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,’ the article’s subhed says. Patel’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. … The Atlantic, in a statement to CNBC, said, ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/kash-patel-atlantic-lawsuit-alcohol-fbi.html
- Hungary: Magyar announces ministers after landslide election win
Source: SFGate
“Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar on Monday announced the first round of his incoming government’s Cabinet members, including nominees for ministers of foreign affairs, finance and economy, following the first meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. Magyar and his center-right Tisza party defeated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a landslide election on April 12, securing a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s next parliament which will make it possible to undo many of the policies Orbán implemented during his 16 years in power. The opposition leader has vowed to restore democratic institutions and the rule of law which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption. Magyar’s party gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament — the largest majority in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Orbán’s far-right, euroskeptic Fidesz party will control 52 seats, down from 135 before the election.” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/hungary-s-magyar-announces-ministers-after-22216067.php
- Mexico: Four US drug thugs killed in car crash
Source: CBS News
“Four anti-narcotics agents, including two American embassy workers, were killed in a car accident while returning from a major drug raid in northern Mexico, prosecutors said Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, six clandestine synthetic drug labs were raided in Morelos, in the northern state of Chihuahua, following a three-month investigation, state prosecutor Cesar Jauregui told reporters. The victims’ vehicle, which was leading an official convoy of five cars, skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine, he said. The Americans killed were ‘instructor officers’ who ‘were carrying out training tasks’ as part of anti-drug cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, Jauregui said.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-embassy-officials-killed-car-crash-drug-lab-raid-mexico/
- Newly Released Epstein Files Reveal Harvard Faculty Kept Ties With Him Even After Jail
Source: Oneindia [India]
“Harvard University is once again facing intense scrutiny over its long and controversial association with Jeffrey Epstein, after newly released US Justice Department documents reportedly revealed that several faculty members continued to maintain contact with him even after he served jail time and was registered as a sex offender. … the newly released files show that Epstein’s connections with Harvard extended far beyond donations and social access. The documents reportedly suggest that professors continued to visit him, endorse him and even acknowledge him in academic work after his 2008 conviction and subsequent release from jail.” (04/20/26)
- Slovenia: Golob’s Party Goes Into Opposition After Coalition Talks Fail
Source: US News & World Report
“Slovenia’s outgoing prime minister, Robert Golob, on Monday said that his liberal Freedom Movement (GS), which narrowly won a parliamentary vote in March, would go into opposition after failing to secure a majority coalition, indicating that centre-right parties would form a government. GS won 29 of the 90 seats in parliament, followed by the right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of populist, pro-Trump ex-prime minister Janez Jansa on 28. Along with smaller parties that have typically supported them, GS would have 40 MPs while SDS would have 43 seats, leaving both in need of support from elsewhere.” (04/20/26)
- EU: Serbia could lose access to a billion euros over democratic backsliding
Source: SFGate
“Serbia could lose access to around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funds if it fails to halt democratic backsliding, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos warned on Monday. International monitors have said they had witnessed violence and irregularities during last month’s local elections in 10 Serbian municipalities. ‘We are increasingly worried about what is happening in Serbia,’ Kos told EU lawmakers. She said the European Commission is ‘assessing whether the country still fulfills the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments.’ Kos said the commission’s concerns range from ‘laws that undermine the independence of the judiciary, to crackdowns on protesters and recurrent meddling in independent media.’ Serbia qualifies for a big slice of an EU fund to promote growth in countries trying to join the bloc if they carry out reforms. Kos said Belgrade has received 110 million euros ($130 million), but that still ‘leaves around 1.5 billion under a question mark.'” (04/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/eu-says-serbia-could-lose-access-to-a-billion-22216056.php
- Eli Lilly agrees to acquire cancer drug maker Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion
Source: CNBC
“Eli Lilly will acquire biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $7 billion, the company said Monday. Lilly will pay $3.25 billion upfront, and the remaining payments are contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Kelonia is developing technology to reprogram patients’ T-cells inside the body so those cells can attack cancer, called in vivo CAR-T. Current treatments require that work to be done outside the body, or ex vivo, a process that involves harvesting cells, engineering them in a lab and then reintroducing them. While logistically intensive, the procedure has been successful for blood cancers like multiple myeloma.” (04/20/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/20/eli-lilly-to-acquire-cancer-drug-maker-kelonia.html
- Consenting to Endless Coercion
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard“Presidents perennially claim that they possess their power thanks to ‘the consent of the governed.’ This phrase, a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson’s time. President Harry Truman assured Congress in 1952, ‘No government can be invested with a higher dignity and greater worth than one based upon the principle of consent.’ But this has long since been a charade. As the federal government has become far larger and more heavy-handed, it is ever more important to persuade people that they consented to their oppression. But political consent is gauged very differently than consent in other areas of life.” (04/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/consenting-to-endless-coercion/
- The C-word in Surveillance
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“I might not win an argument explaining how San Jose’s public surveillance relates to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. But. … That amendment insists that people have a right ‘to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,’ and that governments may not search and seize property without a warrant ‘upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ … I’m biased: mass surveillance is Orwellian. Do we want our government keeping track of us that much? Especially as in San Jose, where not only can over a thousand police department employees scour the data sans any legal warrant, but the department also shares this resource with over 300 agencies across the state. Creepy. That’s the word for it.” (04/20/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/20/c-word-in-surveillance/
- Three Disasters That Legal Weed Didn’t Unleash — Despite the Forecasts
Source: Reason
by Jeff Luse“From higher crime to teenage stoners, here are things that the weed debate got wrong.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/20/3-disasters-that-legal-weed-didnt-unleash-despite-the-forecasts/
- America: Land of the (Not Really) Free
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul“Supporters of the income tax implicitly endorse the idea that our rights are gifts from government and, thus, can be revoked by government at the will of our rulers. Adoption of the income tax signified the abandonment of the belief that individuals have inalienable rights granted them by the Creator. Therefore, those who believe in natural rights must reject income taxation. It is also a violation of the people’s rights when the central bank reduces the value of the dollar, and thus the people’s purchasing power, via the hidden inflation tax.” (04/20/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/america-land-of-the-not-really-free
- The Hyperreality of the State
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Philippe Lemieux“Modern economic policies increasingly give an impression of unreality. Governments announce reassuring indicators while individuals experience something entirely different: persistent inflation, housing shortages, stagnating purchasing power. This gap is not merely an analytical error. It reveals a deeper problem: the state no longer reacts to economic reality as it is lived, but to a reconstructed version built from models, indicators, and abstract categories. The market, by contrast, does not rely on representation. It emerges directly from human action.” 904/20/26)
- Nothing About This Dystopia Feels Natural
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“We all sense it deep in our marrow. We all know something has gone terribly wrong. If you lived in an alternate reality without wars or poverty, where everyone had enough and governments did what’s in the interests of the people and the ecosystem, it would never occur to you that there was anything odd about it. It would feel completely normal. Things would be more or less how you’d expect them to be. You can’t say the same about the present status quo. The whole thing instinctively scans as weird and counterintuitive. The more you learn about the way the world works, the more insane it all looks to you. Have you ever had to explain war to a young child? It’s terrible. If you’re actually honest with them about what war is and why it is waged, it completely shatters their understanding of the world.” (04/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/20/nothing-about-this-dystopia-feels-natural/
- The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
Source: CounterPunch
by M Reza Behnam“The unprovoked joint U.S.-Israeli war launched against Iran on 28 February 2026 will manifestly change West Asia. When it ends, Arab despots, who allowed their countries to be used as platforms for aggression against Iran, will confront a new reality. The safety and stability they thought was theirs based on fealty to the United States and its Israeli proxy was shattered as Iranian missiles and drones were en route to destroy the U.S. military and intelligence installations they had allowed on their soil; a subordination they falsely believed would protect them. The Arab world is learning the hard way what the late-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in his cold logic, implied decades ago about American foreign policy: ‘The word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.'” (04/20/26)
- Perhaps only an autocracy can have a directed economy?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“[Ha Joon] Chang positively revels in the power that the military dictatorship in South Korea had over who could produce what, how. It’s positively lipsmacking, that relish with which the stories of commands to produce this or that are described. As we point out, you cannot do that sort of thing in a free society. You can’t even do that sort of thing in a liberal society — because freedom and liberty do indeed mean not being commanded to produce this or that and in what manner.” (04/20/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/perhaps-only-an-autocracy-can-have-a-directed-economy
- I Want You to March With Me This May Day
Source: Our Future
by Sulma Arias“This May Day, I’ll be one of the millions who will peacefully take to the streets to denounce the cruelty and corruption of this administration and the oligarchs it serves. I will march because I believe our lives are worth more than dollars and cents. Every one of us deserves the right to live in dignity with hope for the future. I invite you to join me. May Day began in the 19th century, when industrial workers came together to demand something we now take for granted: an eight-hour workday. At that time, even children worked twelve or more hours straight in factories, every day. We too easily forget how far we have come, and that victories like these were won by organized people.” (04/19/26)
https://ourfuture.org/20260419/i-want-you-to-march-with-me-this-may-day
- A Better Alternative to High-Deductible Health Insurance
Source: Independent Institute
by John C Goodman & Pete Sessions“Health economics tells us there are two ways to insure for anything: self-insurance (with individuals taking the risks and saving to pay for them) and third-party insurance (in which an insurance company, an employer or the government bears the risk). Self-insurance makes sense for risks over which we have more personal control. For example, just about every time you have needed a Band-Aid, it was probably for an event you could have easily avoided. The problem is that most people are not accustomed to self-insuring for medical expenses. The median household has only $8,000 in a bank account, and millions of families are living paycheck to paycheck. The solution to that problem is a Health Savings Account.” (04/20/26)
- How women’s digital lives change China
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“A recent surprise in China was a survey that found professional women have adapted faster to using artificial intelligence than men. They also show less fear of AI. Yet it was the explanation for this AI gender gap that offered a keyhole into how Chinese women are changing themselves and society from inside the narrow lanes imposed upon them by the ruling party. One insight on the survey came from Poh-Yian Koh, president of FedEx China. She said in the era of AI, the common female traits of flexibility, resilience, empathy, long-term vision, and bridge-building allow women to serve as ‘indispensable ‘interpreters’ who connect technology with humanity.’ ‘Technology can be replicated. Empathy cannot,’ she said. ‘In the age of intelligence, trust is the scarcest resource’” Technology might determine how fast society moves, but ‘humanity determines how far we go.'” (04/18/26)
- AI, free speech, and America’s real advantage over China
Source: The Eternally Radical Idea
by Greg Lukianoff & Adam Thierer“Our overbroad proposed AI regulations should alarm anyone who cares about free speech — and America’s competitive position against China.” (04/20/26)
https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/ai-free-speech-and-americas-real
- Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies“The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time. On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after Trump accepted a 10-point peace plan drawn up by Iran as ‘a workable basis on which to negotiate’. But Vice President Vance and US negotiators rejected Iran’s plan out of hand at talks in Pakistan on April 11, and instead demanded that Iran must give up its right as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT) to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. The talks ended with no agreement. As the end of the ceasefire on April 22 drew near, Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to US demands on enriched uranium and other matters.” (04/20/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/iran-war-10-point-peace-plan
- Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“Larry Iannaccone and his co-author Rodney Stark once wrote that the belief that society is getting less religious says ‘less about empirical fact than it does about secularization faith — a faith that, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, sustains the conviction of many social scientists that religious institutions must soon decay …’ In short, belief in secularization is just a religion. Larry’s critics were, unsurprisingly, not pleased. To tell people that their non-religious beliefs are just a religion is an insult. Why is it an insult? There isn’t any nice way to answer, so I’ll be blunt. It is an insult because the way that people form religious beliefs is so intellectually irresponsible that their conclusions are almost guaranteed to be false.”? (04/20/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/why-religious-beliefs-are-irrational-4cc
- An Egalitarian Faith?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ben Peterson“Even before 1776, American liberty and equality were expressed in church and civil covenants and compacts, like the 1620 Mayflower Compact. Alexis de Tocqueville makes much of such covenants and compacts in Democracy in America, arguing that religion lies at the core of American character and sustains the American experiment in democracy. Christianity, in his view, is especially well-suited to supporting liberty, equality, and self-government, as it naturally rules over hearts and minds without relying on state support. Uncontested in the intellectual and moral realm, Christianity lifts the democratic soul upward, beyond the petty material concerns that tend to consume men’s minds in democratic ages. At the same time, Tocqueville argues that Christianity must accommodate itself to democratic equality, especially the love of material wellbeing and distaste for forms it engenders.” (04/20/26)
- Evolutionary Subversion
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“How to evolve a hierarchy without fighting it head on.” (04/20/26)
- Wisdom From the Founders: Why Eric Swalwell Should Never Have Been Elected in the First Place
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“‘If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?’ – James Madison … A very clear — and truthful — analysis by Mr. Madison, and it explains in a few words, the problem with most governments in history, and that includes the current American government. As I have noted countless times, the American Founders said that the country cannot succeed without a virtuous people electing virtuous leaders. Well, people elected Eric Swalwell, who is the epitome of vice and immorality. Swalwell is human scum, but what does his election to Congress tell us about the people who put him there in the first place? And do we really think the people of his Congressional district are going to learn from their folly and replace Swalwell with a paragon of Christian virtue?” (04/20/26)
- A Reckoning Is Underway at the FDA
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Maryanne Demasi“In September, it was reported that FDA officials had privately investigated 25 paediatric deaths following Covid vaccination — the first systematic review of such cases since the rollout began. The findings were meant to be presented to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). But the presentation never came. The meeting passed without a word. Something had happened behind closed doors. Now we know what.” (04/20/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/a-reckoning-is-underway-at-the-fda/
- Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go?
Source: The New Republic
by Greg Sargent“Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63 million in ‘settlements’ earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Democrats are trying to track that money — and the latest developments don’t inspire confidence.” (04/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/209254/trump-library-funding-millions-media-companies
- Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter“It started with Gaza, but the admin’s fight with the pope and its insistence that Jesus blesses US bombing raids have put this pillar of the base at serious risk.” (04/20/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 04/20/26
Source: Reason
“Can New York Survive Mamdani’s Tax Plan?” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/can-new-york-survive-mamdanis-tax-plan/
- Rising, 04/20/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Rep. Ilhan Omar claiming her net worth to be less than $100,000, after a report from last year showed that her and her husband held assets worth up to $30 million.” (04/20/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/20/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty
“Trump On Iran: ‘Lots Of Bombs Will Go Off’ If No Agreement.” (04/20/26)
- Reason Interview: Afroman
Source: Reason
“Afroman discusses his free speech court victory, why he thinks he could unite America, and whether he feels pressure to always be high.” (04/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/20/afroman-on-becoming-the-2028-libertarian-presidential-nominee/
- Bulwark Takes, 04/20/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Major MAGA Figures Say Trump’s Assassination Attempt Was Staged.” (04/20/26)
- SolutionsWatch, 04/20/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Declaring Health Sovereignty.” (04/20/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 04/20/26
Source: The Dispatch
“War, Terrible and Awful | Interview: Mick Ryan.” (04/20/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/war-terrible-and-awful-interview-mick-ryan/
- EconTalk, 04/20/26
Source: EconTalk
“Adam Smith’s Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine).” (04/20/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/adam-smiths-warning-about-wealth-fame-and-status-with-ross-levine/